Countdown in the Po Valley: no more urea in fields from 2028
From digestate to ammonium nitrate to nitrogen-fixing bacteria: here are all possible alternatives
From 1 January 2028 it will no longer be possible to use urea as a fertiliser in the fields of the Po Valley Basin. The ban is one of the measures contained in the Action Plan to improve air quality drawn up by the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security. Initially, the stop had been set for 1 January 2027, but then the pressure of national agricultural associations - primarily Confagricoltura - granted the postponement by one year.
Farmers are opposed to this environmental measure, created to curb polluting emissions, for a very simple reason: because - they argue - there are no valid alternatives to urea on the market. In Italy, nitrogenous fertilisers, Confagricoltura recalls, account for around 25 per cent of the total fertilisers used. Of these, half are made up of urea, which therefore accounts for 12 per cent of all fertilisers used in Italy. Just over a tenth, then.
It is a pity that most of the urea used in our country is concentrated in the Po Valley because it is here that maize, rice and wheat, the crops most in need of nitrogen, are cultivated. In all, this is two million hectares of arable land where it would be necessary to change cultivation techniques. Blocking the use of urea in this area would mean - Confagricoltura always calculates - imposing additional costs on farmers of at least 150 euro per hectare.
Technically speaking, however, there are already alternatives to urea: 'One is ammonium nitrate,' explains Mauro Coatti, head of technical support and sustainability at Syngenta, 'but very little is produced today and it will be impossible for existing production plants to significantly increase their capacity in just two years. Moreover, compared to urea, ammonium nitrate is an expensive alternative because for every hectare of land you need almost twice as much as urea. Another possibility is the technological solutions of so-called precision agriculture, which make it possible to reduce the amount of nitrogen needed in the field. But even this is an extra cost for farmers, who must first invest in the necessary 4.0 machinery.
Poi ci sono i fertilizzanti organici, come il digestato e gli effluenti zootecnici, entrambi sottoprodotti dell’allevamento. Negli ultimi anni l’Italia ha già ridotto di circa l’8% l’utilizzo di concimi azotati proprio passando ai fertilizzanti organici. Nel solo territorio lombardo sono attivi quasi 600 impianti di biogas, che ogni anno generano digestato contenente oltre 38mila tonnellate di azoto. Una quota importante di questo prodotto potrebbe diventare un fertilizzante a tutti gli effetti, con vantaggi ambientali, agronomici ed economici. Peccato che manchi ancora un quadro normativo completo per il loro utilizzo, come hanno più volte denunciato sia la Confagricoltura che la Coldiretti. Ad oggi, il decreto su biogas da digestato è fermo in attesa di ulteriori valutazioni scientifiche.
